and.
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER
Editorial Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH, MM.
Editor - CM. POULSEN
Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH. D.F.C.
(WING CDR., R.A.F.V.R.)
Art Editor - JOHN YOXALL
FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE W)RLD .• FOUNDED 1909
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No. 2029. Vol. Lll.
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The Giants in a Fog
UNEASINESS about the future of the two hugenew British aircraft types, the Bristol Brabazon Iand the Saunders-Roe S.R.45 flying boat, was
increased rather than allayed by the reply given by the
Minister of Civil Aviation in the House of Lords on
November 5th. It would appear that the fog which pre-
vailed outside was reflected in the Minister's statement,
and it was not even illuminated by such verbal fire-
works as would have been appropriate to the day.
Lord Balfour of Inchrye asked the Government
whether it had been decided that the construction of
the Brabazon I civil airliners and the Saunders-Roe civil
flying boats should be suspended in whole or part. Now
that was a simple and straightforward question, and
it could easily have been answered by an equally simple
and straightforward reply, but Lord Nathan chose to
cloud the issue by saying that he supposed Lord Balfour
had in mind the reports that work on these machines
might be stopped owing to the economic position. That
f as not so, and the future of these airliners would beconsidered in the ordinary way entirely on theirmerits."
In other words, Lord Nathan replied to a question
which had not been asked, and Lord Balfour quite
naturally pressed for a clearer statement. All he suc-
ceeded in eliciting, however, was that the economic
position is not a factor which has been taken into
account in considering the future of these aircraft. We
are still left in ignorance as to what plans the Govern-
ment has (if any), and we could have wished that Lord
Balfour had not been prevented by his august surround-
ings from concluding with more telling fireworks than
his "the reply does not answer my question. I am
sorry."
Last week we expressed sympathy with the Minister of
Civil Aviation when he was put up to reply (in the
defence debate) on behalf of the Government concern-
ing the Royal Air Force. We pointed out that Lord
Nathan could not after his long absence in the Far East,
Australia and New Zealand, be expected to be in a
position to give authoritative replies. That excuse
cannot be advanced when the subject is one very inti-
mately concerning the department of which Lord Nathan
is the political head, and one is forced to the conclusion
that the fate of these two aircraft types is still doubtful,
even if " the economic situation is not a factor which has
been taken into account." . v
Engine-Off Landings
A FAMOUS aircraft manufacturer once said, inapproximately these words, "The enthusiasts arealways telling us that the great advantage of the
helicopter is that it can go straight up. Unfortunately,
if the engine stops the helicopter comes straight down."
That view has been fairly generally shared, at least to
the extent of believing that a safe forced landing after
engine failure is an extremely tricky and delicate
manoeuvre which requires rather exceptional piloting
skill.
This journal has done its best to dispel the idea that
an engine failure inevitably means a crash, and in our
issue, of March 28th, 1946, we published an excellent
article by Lt. Hosegood, R.N.V.R., in which he de-
scribed the three main types of engine-off landing. The
article was received by many with a certain amount of
scepticism, the feeling being that Lt. Hosegood is very
much of an expert and thai:, therefore, what appeared
fairly simple to him might be found very difficult by a
pilot of less skill.
There the matter has pretty we^l rested until now.1
In this issue we publish the first instalment of an account
of a lecture given recently by Mr. Fitzwilliams to the
Helicopter Association on the subject of engine oft land-
ings. Without resorting tx> involved mathematics, Mr.
Fitzwilliams explains as simply as the subject allows